


Night Shift

by nakiriknife



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 04:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11684319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakiriknife/pseuds/nakiriknife
Summary: Tragedy greeted them with a sweet embrace and along with it came hellish images that were only ever designed to haunt, causing anxieties that were meant to rack through their bodies in prickling waves.





	Night Shift

        Sleep never came easy.  Not anymore, but it was one of the many consequences of signing up for a sidekick gig.  It was in the fine print of a spoken contract and nothing they felt the need to worry about then.  Tragedy greeted them with a sweet embrace short after and along with it came hellish images that were only ever designed to haunt, causing anxieties that were meant to rack through their bodies in prickling waves. 

        Who knew it would keep Roy awake at such an hour?  That is, if that’s the reason he was awake.  As Dick crept closer, he saw that Roy was slouched on the couch, staring at the large television screen with minor interest.  He looked tired, like he was absolutely desperate to sleep but his mind was too wired to let him.  The darkness under his eyes hung heavy and he looked far off, as if he were in another world entirely. 

        “Can’t sleep?”  Dick inquired, taking a seat on the sofa next to him. 

        It wasn’t the words that shook Roy from his thoughts, but the slight bounce of the cushions beneath him as Dick fell back onto them.  As he was coming to, the remote was pried from his grasp and the channel changed to something much more colorful and much more entertaining.  Normally, it would be a fight.  Dick always had to have control over the remote and got particularly cranky when it wasn’t close enough for him to grab.  Roy liked to antagonize him by denying him the control, instead switching it so the fate of what they were to watch fell into his hands.  It was always minor things like that that got under Dick’s skin.  The thought passed his mind to instigate but, Roy let it slide just this once.  It was too late to be causing such a ruckus and he wasn’t at all in the mood to get an ass whooping from a sleep deprived Amazon.  Luckily, this time Dick actually chose something much more appealing to the eyes to watch.  It was easier to focus his attention on, successfully distracting him with simple puns and small jokes giving him no reason nor desire to seize the remote back.  

        When he finally pieced together what Dick had said to him, he replied with a lop-sided grin and a sigh.  “Nah. You?” 

        “Nope.”

        To speak to one another during the day was more than enough communication for the two of them.  It required a certain kind of energy to take part in conversations full of shouting and competitive growls, snide comments and laughing at one another’s expense.  Though, during the late hours of the night, whether on a rooftop or within the shelter of their tower, it became quiet.  A comforting silence without the underlying malice.  Just warmth and an understanding of one another. 

        When that silence was broken, it didn’t ever matter.  It was a welcome intrusion of the peace and sometimes needed.  The flashing screen in front of them with obnoxious voices of equally obnoxious characters wasn’t enough to anchor either of them to reality, but a real life friend might have the potential to keep one from destroying themselves in the dead of a sleepless night.

        “You don’t mind this show, right?  It’s the only good thing on at this time of night.”  Dick gestured toward the T.V., the remote still in his hands.  To be able to assume that it was to assure it staying with him or because he was ready to change the channel if Roy were to want it was hard to discern, but Roy would like to think it was the latter. 

        “It’s fine.  Better than what I had on before.” 

        Dick’s eyes lingered on him before he put down the controller, only this time it rested between the two of them instead of on the arm of the couch that he was leaning on.  Roy noticed it and determined that it was a deliberate move on the other’s part.  He appreciated the gesture however unnecessary.  It served to entertain him a bit really, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips at the small offering of peace.  His eyes flickered toward Dick and he watched the same smile stretch across his features as well, but it was no doubt due to the cheesy ass jokes the characters on the screen spewed out. 

        However tired he was, Roy found himself trying to keep his eyes open instead of giving into sleep.  Ironic, huh?  To crave sleep but to deny it when the opportunity was presented to him.  Though he supposed he couldn’t help it.  He was enjoying Dick’s silent company too much, the calming veil much more preferable than his unpredictable dreams. 

        In the end, he let his heavy eyelids fall and gave into exhaustion, the last few moments of consciousness fading into a blur.  He slumped over to rest his weary head on Dick's shoulder, leaning all his weight onto him.  At first, it startled Dick.  His muscles taut and his posture rigid with caution and mild confusion.  They were on separate ends of the sofa just moments ago, leaving the middle space open just as they always did when they sat together, but closing the gap was new.  Dick turned his head to stare at Roy, the need for some type of explanation gnawing at him, but he didn't expect to find it in the many spaces in which his freckles fell, the spaces where the sun had kissed him.  He didn't expect to find it in the soft burn of red lashes or the quiet breaths of a dreamer.  His shoulders slumped a little now and his eyelids too began to drop, his last thought that maybe Roy being so close to him wasn't the worst thing to ever had happened to him.

 

        The hours passed by them, but where they laid time seemed to stand still.  The sun rose to wash the darkness away, spilling into the room in soft ripples.  Though, it failed to coax them awake. 

        “Guys,” came small whisper, urgency settled deep within the tone.  “Come look.” 

        Donna beckoned the others, demanding for them to quicken their groggy paces.  It did very little to spur them on.  Well, all besides Wally, who's groggy pace was only a millisecond slower than his usual speed. 

        “Woah.  They're —“

        “Cuddling?”  Lilith interrupted.

        Nestled atop the cushions of the couch were Dick and Roy, sound asleep and curled loosely around one another.  Dick’s snores whistled past his lips in hushed breaths though Roy’s were a muffled mess.  His face was hidden, burrowed comfortably into Dick’s chest. His mouth was left open, no doubt wetting the man’s shirt with drool due to how heavily he leaned into him.  An arm was wrapped tightly around his torso, keeping Roy close enough to avoid falling off the coach and onto the floor next to the forgotten remote.  It was a small sleeping space, not nearly big enough to hold two exhausted vigilantes in the way they wrapped around one another, but Dick’s arm holding him secure was enough to assure his safety.  Their hair was tousled and stood up at odd ends, clothes wrinkled and made for a pathetic excuse for a blanket.  Though a blanket may not have been needed with how they ended up wound together. 

        “We should — We should leave them,” Garth spoke past a yawn, stretching his arms up high above his head before letting them fall lazily to his sides. 

        “They’ll kill us if they knew we saw this,” Wally pointed out, digging into his pockets to find his phone.  Once in his hands, he lifted the device in preparation for a good picture.  He would have gotten it too, if it wasn’t for Donna reaching out and lowering his arm before he could press the button.

        “Garth’s right.  Let’s go.”

        One by one, they shuffled away, leaving Dick with the quiet rise and fall of his chest and Roy with the loud rumblings of his exhausted mind.


End file.
